Thinking Things Through
by Waywatcher
Summary: One-shot. Robin is a tactician. Of that, there can be no doubt. But sadly, good battlefield tactics does not equal good social skills. So when Robin wishes to make a request of Little Mac (someone she has never spoken to before) for her studies on all the new fighters, things are not going to go the way one would expect.


**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Smash Bros.**

 **Hey there! This is my second smash fic, and before you say anything,** _ **yes**_ **I know Robin seems a bit crazy. I just prefer it this way, makes her more fun to write.**

 **Yeah, so this fic has pretty much the same starting plot as my last one (** _ **In Pursuit of Knowledge**_ **), just change Shulk for Little Mac and M!Robin for F!Robin. Enjoy!**

* * *

It was simple logic really. If you can't research your subject by looking them up in the archives, then it only made sense to get hands-on experience.

That being said, it wasn't like she hadn't learned anything from the archives. She knew this 'Little Mac' was a boxer of the highest degree; renowned for packing ridiculous power into quick strikes. He hails from a place called Bronx and is the champion of the World Video Boxing Association.

But really, how was that going to help Robin beat him? What use was it to know that he came from Bronx, or that he lost to a guy called "Bear Hugger" five times straight?

So again, in Robin's opinion, the only actual option was to fight the guy herself before Master Hand started dishing out Ranked matches so she wouldn't be caught unprepared.

That is why Robin was ghosting around the gym rooms at an ungodly hour of the morning, trying to locate the Boxer. She had already tried coming around during normal hours, but the guy was nowhere to be seen. She had tried coming late at night, but still no sign of him.

She knew he came to the gym to train. The person she'd asked, Captain Falcon, had told her as much. So assuming the Captain wasn't lying, Robin just had to find out _when_ Little Mac trained.

That being said, the silver-haired girl wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings, she was mainly berating herself for not having any breakfast before locating the boxer.

" _I should have gone to the cafeteria first._ " She griped internally. She peered into a peach-colored room featuring a long mirror encompassing the entire left wall and yoga mats stacked in the corner, but with no sign of her target. She rolled her brown eyes in annoyance and shuffled off to the next room." _I wouldn't even have had to make anything! The plates just spawn whatever you want! I could have just woken up twenty minutes earlier and done that!_ "

A sound caught her attention. She paused in mid-stride, straining to hear the noise.

"Is that… Grunting?" The tactician whispered. Her eyes lit up and she immediately forgot about the hunger that had been so big a deal not five seconds ago. "Yes! I've found you! You're mine now!"

She dashed down the hallway with her dark cloak billowing out behind her, tracking the noise as best she could. It wasn't particularly hard; after all, each floor was laid out in a grid-like formation for simplicity sake making navigation (and backtracking) rather easy.

And so it came to be, after five minutes and a few wrong turns, that Robin found the boxer punching away at a sandbag suspended by a chain in the middle of a small brown room with a locker off to the side.

Even from a casual look you could tell his strength was nothing to scoff at. Even light hits caused the bag to snap backwards, and a flurry of blows meant that it never really had the chance to return to its resting place.

Little Mac suddenly ducked low, as if dodging a hit. His right arm pulled as far back as it could go before swinging forward with the momentum of his dodge aiding the punch. It landed in the center of the sandbag with all the power of an enraged wyvern and snapped the chain suspending it from the ceiling, which sent the bag hurtling to the other side of the room.

He panted loudly and wiped his forehead with his green gloves. His short black hair was plastered to his forehead and his similarly colored sleeveless shirt was soaked through with sweat. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he was about to fetch a new chain from the closet when a loud whistle caught his attention.

Robin, for of course it was she, stepped into the room, clapping at his performance.

"That was amazing!" The girl complemented, grinning widely. "I can see why you're the champion of the World Video Boxing Association!"

Little Mac was confused for several reasons: he didn't know who this girl was, he didn't know how she knew about the WVBA, and he he didn't know how she'd found him. He trained early in the morning specifically so no one would interrupt him.

"Sorry." The boy said slowly, eyeing Robin with caution. "Have we met?"

"Yeah, once before at the opening ceremony, and I know all about you!" The tactician chirped happily. "I've been searching for you for nearly a week!"

If Little Mac wasn't wary before, he certainly was now. "What do you mean you know all about me?"

"I mean I spent hours searching the archives trying to look at you!" The tactician explained with a happy chirp. She babbled on about what she knew with an happy smile. "But none of it was helpful! I mean, what use is it knowing you live in Bronx on Saint Lawrence Avenue? Or that you lost to a guy called "Bear Hugger" five times straight?"

There was a brief silence between the two. Robin was still grinning madly, being plenty happy that she had found Little Mac after all her searching. Little Mac, on the other hand, was not exactly happy at all and stared at the tactician with wide eyes.

Little Mac eventually came to his senses and took a step towards the girl, followed by another.

"Oh! You already know what I want?" The tactician asked, pleasantly surprised. "Well that's great! We can get right down to business!"

Little Mac was trembling slightly; the small fire in his eyes went unnoticed by Robin as the boxer tried to speak. "You…"

"Huh? What about me?" Robin asked, cocking her head to the side.

"YOU STALKER! I'M GONNA WRECK YOU!" Little Mac hollered. His fist suddenly flew forward, aiming directly for the tactician's head. The silver-haired girl gave a small yelp and ducked beneath the blow.

"H-Hey now! If we're going to fight can we at least do it in the arena? I want to study this!" Robin protested, holding up her hands innocently.

"What? So you can have more to hold over my head?" The boxer snarled.

"Exactly!" The tactician chirped. Her eyes widened as it occurred to her what she had just implied. "Uh- I mean I want blackmail! NO NO! I _don't_ want blackmail! This is just for matches!"

Little Mac was gritting his teeth and glaring at the girl. "So," He began tensely. "If agree to this, will you stop stalking me?"

"I'm not stalking you!" Robin protested. "I just needed to know exactly where you would be in the morning so I could find you and stab you! I mean _study_ you! I mean… Augh! I am asking for permission you know! You can say no."

"Will. You. Stop. Stalking. Me?" The boxer repeated, not caring for her explanation. "As long as I give you a match?"

"I'm not-! Fine. Yes. I'll match you. Erm… I mean match with me! Wait- no!" Robin squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as she tried to find a way to say this properly. "I'll accept this match against you, and I'll stop trying to follow you."

"Fine." Mac snarled. "Let's go stalker!"

###

Minutes later the two found themselves in a familiar room with teleportation pads and a holographic menu hovering just to Little Mac's left.

"One stock, and I'm choosing the Boxing Ring, omega form. Any objections?" The boy snapped, glaring at his opponent.

"Nope! I'm excited to see you're home turf!" The tactician chirped, grinning once more. "I can't wait to learn _all_ about you!"

Little Mac couldn't help but shiver uncomfortably at that last line. This girl was truly disturbing. Gritting his teeth the boxer punched the 'Accept' button on the holo-menu and decided to just beat Robin to a pulp to teach her a lesson.

The two fighters phased into existence on either side of the Boxing Ring. Robin took a moment to stare out at the crowd and the massive display in awe as Little Mac threw a few practice punches and waited for the countdown to begin.

"THREE!"

The loud call caught Robin's attention and she swiftly pulled out a yellow book and a scarily spiky sword. Little Mac eyed it warily, not at all reassured by its design.

"TWO!"

The two locked eyes. The boxer snarling and the tactician grinning madly.

"ONE!"

Little Mac tensed, prepared for a burst of speed as soon as the match began. Robin leveled her sword at her foe and raised her tome up high, electricity crackling from both implements.

"GO!"

The boxer wasted no time in closing the distance, knowing he had no chance at long range. His first slew of punches was met with stiff resistance, as Robin focused exclusively on defense. Her sword move to shield her from several lower strikes while her tome served to push aside higher blows.

Eventually the tactician decided that she'd seen enough and rolled behind the boxer after a particularly wide swing. She restrained him with a quick spell and then threw him behind her.

That spell was something Robin took quite a bit of pride in. She had discovered it while studying Nosferatu and found that it was part of the incantation used to retrain the foe while the rest of the spell siphoned their life. With a bit of manipulation it could be used to toss the opponent around like a ragdoll.

Seeing as there was now a decent distance between them the tactician charged up her thunder tome while Little Mac rolled to his feet.

The instant the boxer tried to lunge forward again he was treated to an arcfire in the face. A powerful arcthunder followed which racked his body with painful shocks before sending him sprawling to the edge of the field.

As he pulled himself up yet again the boxer sent silent thanks to Master Hand for reducing the pain inflicted by attacks in the battle arenas. It was something he had never really considered during the few matches he had before, but being electrocuted made him quite thankful of the fact.

Seeing as his foe had once again charged her tome, Little Mac took precautions to make sure he would be able to close the distance. A quick feint forward baited out the arcfire, which gave him ample opportunity to make a running leap over it while Robin was stuck channeling.

The boxer ended his leap with a powerful punch, which caused the silver-haired girl to reel backwards as she recovered. Little Mac kept momentum by constantly pushing forward and continuously throwing out quick blows.

One particularly powerful punch sent the girl flying off the edge of the stage. Little Mac sneered as she fell low before pulling out an elwind tome and pushing herself upwards. The boxer made a small jump off the stage and tried to hit the tactician on her way up.

It was not meant to be, as Robin made a quick sword swipe upwards which knocked Little Mac further away from the stage. Realizing his mistake, the boxer pumped the air with his legs. Using the unique properties of Smash Mansion's arenas he was able to make a second jump in midair followed up by a lunging swing of his fist that brought him close enough to the stage to grab the edge.

"Still in this?" Robin asked quietly, watching as Little Mac pulled himself back on stage.

"I won't lose to a stalker like you!" The boxer yelled as he put his fists up in front of his face.

"I will repeat myself once again: I am no stalker, I am a tactician." Robin said calmly. Her current behaviour was in stark contrast to her earlier rambling. "I simply want to gather information on your fighting style for future reference to plan my strategies. If you wish, I can relay what I learn so you can improve yourself."

"Why didn't you say that from the start?" The boxer growled. "And I don't need help from someone like you! You're a stalker, so just shut up and fight!"

Robin grimaced slightly at that last remark. "As you wish. Here I go!"

A barrage of fire and electric blasts was quick to follow. Little Mac blocked a few of them with some well-placed punches while ducking under the rest. He steadily inched forward and away from the stage's edge.

Seeing as her ranged onslaught was having little effect, Robin opted for a different tactic. She threw out one last arc fire to act as a wall before jumping high into the air. She quickly came overtop of Little Mac and slashed downward as she landed.

Not expecting the attack, Little Mac was knocked to the floor by the attack despite its lack of power. Robin seized the opportunity to cast an elwind directly at the floor, smashing into Little Mac and letting the tactician leap far away from the boxer.

Snarling in anger Little Mac rolled to his feet yet again. He charged forward, straining his bruised muscles to pump out as much speed as he could manage as he closed in.

Robin simply jumped into the air when the boxer came into range to strike. The tactician slashed downward at her foe again, though this was dodged by the enraged boy.

Pushing out a second jump, Robin remained in the air. Little Mac was plenty tired of her fooling around and leapt up to meet her.

As Robin dropped as he rose, the boxer threw out a punch… Only to realize it had no strength in it whatsoever. Without the ground for his legs to push off of he had no way of gaining significant force in his strikes. Even normal standing blows required a bit of a tilt from his legs for momentum.

The blow barely even affected the tactician, and she was sure to take note of it. A wicked grin broke out over her face as she landed and immediately jumped again. She slashed wide arcs in the air as Little Mac fell, clipping him on the shoulder and cutting him across the chest.

Crashing to the ground on his back, Little Mac realized he was screwed. There was simply no way he would be able to outfight her at this point now that she knew to just keep in the air. That left him only one chance to end this; if he couldn't land this hit, he was done for.

Seeing Robin land next to him Little Mac struck out at her legs while rising to his feet. He landed only a glancing blow, but it was all he needed to follow up.

The boxer had one attack he was very proud of. It was very hard to use, and it took a nasty toll on his shoulder if he used to too frequently or didn't warm up before striking. He called it his "KO Uppercut".

He would never have a better chance than now. Robin was stumbling, and he was right next to her, perfectly in range. In one last ditch effort, Little Mac let out a yell and put all his strength into one final blow. His fist surged forward and up, nailing the tactician in the stomach and sending her flying high into the sky.

He waited a tense moment, praying his most powerful move had been enough.

The familiar sound and the streaks of light accompanying a knockout brought a satisfied grin to his face. He raised his fist high into the sky as the stage faded away.

"AND THE WINNER IS… LITTLE MAC!"

###

Robin trudged tiredly to the cafeteria, gripping her stomach; not because it was injured mind you, she just remembered that she hadn't eaten. Her mind went over what she had learned as she sat down at one of the many empty tables.

He was fast, lightning fast. Strong too. But he had a few fatal flaws that she would keep in mind. He couldn't recover well, and was laughably bad at aerial combat. Now that it came to mind, his blows were actually quite telegraphed. If it weren't for the cast time of her spells she would have easily been able to dodge or block so many of his strikes despite their speed.

Reaching forward, Robin tapped the plate in front of her while quietly asking for cooked bear and a glass of water. The enchanted dishware responded and the requested meal simply appeared with none of the flashy effects you might expect out of creation magic.

As she took a bite of her meal she couldn't help but also think of the conversation that had lead up to the fight. She couldn't help but wince as she remembered how she had acted.

" _No wonder he thought I was a stalker._ " She thought, sighing internally. " _Knowing what street he lives on? Saying that you want to know more about him? Gah… I could have at least mentioned that everything I knew was in his file, then he wouldn't think I was following him around._ "

She silently resolved to work on her conversation skills for next time. She didn't want _everyone_ to think she was mentally ill. She then immediately took that thought back, realizing how offensive it was especially in light of knowing some perfectly nice people who were just that. Emmeryn, Lon'qu, and Henry came to mind as some of the most obvious examples.

" _Correction. I don't want people to think I'm a creepy stalker like Tharja._ " She nodded at this, having no problem saying Tharja was creepy.

Finishing her meal, the tactician walked back to her room to write down what she had learned. She jabbed the number 7 on a nearby elevator and waited for it to arrive.

As she waited, she went over her list of people she still needed to fight: Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, Bowser Jr, Greninja, Duck Hunt, Mega Man, Palutena, and (her next target) Shulk.

She paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing.

"Am I missing someone?" She whispered. "I don't need to do Lucina, and I've already battled Pac-Man, Rosalina and Luma, and I'm only getting that one match off of Little Mac…"

A small "ding" from the elevator broke her out of her musings.

"Whatever." She shrugged. "I'm sure I have the list written down somewhere. If there is someone else I don't need to remember right now."

Stepping onto the elevator, she refocused onto her notes about Little Mac as the doors closed behind her.

Yes, she had a lot of work to do if she was going to win this tournament. She couldn't wait to put some of her plans into action.

But for now, the tactician was content with studying her foes. The more she knew, the better she could plan; and almost nothing could beat a well-made plan.

The tactician was sure she would come out on top.

* * *

 **I believe this was an okay fic. Pacing could use some work though me'thinks. Hope you enjoyed!**


End file.
